Samsung Instinct review
Samsung Instinct
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)The Samsung Instinct, Sprint's answer to the iPhone, finally has arrived. It's been two months since we first saw the slim touch-screen cell phone with a boatload of features, but now we've had the opportunity to kick its tires and run it through its paces. What we found is an innovative, powerful and easy-to-use device that matches the original iPhone in many ways. The Instinct's appealing design and plentiful features, particularly in the messaging and GPS areas, push it to the forefront of Sprint's lineup. Things got a little shaky on the performance side, but on the whole the Instinct is a cell phone worth knowing. It goes on sale June 20 for a still undetermined price, but we know it will cost less than $300 and it will require a Sprint "Simply Everything" plan. Until you can get one of your own, you can check out our full Instinct review or you can peruse our Instinct slide show.
Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent. 
The Samsung Instinct is a very nice phone. I have had it for a few days now and would like to offer an honest "non-biased" opinion. I can't honestly compare this device to the IPhone since I have only seen the phone in action once. (I was very impressed from what I saw).
The pros:
1. Sleek and elegant design.
2. Seamless menu navigation
3. Fast Internet access when I have a strong signal.
4. Visual Voice Mail is convenient. Voice mails are downloaded to the device for playback.
5. Browser is very nice. While I doubt that it is better than the Safari on the IPhone, it is much better than the IE that is available today on ANY pocket PC device. The browser that ships with Instinct is similar to Opera for the mobile device.
6. Nice keyboard. I have noticed that I hit the "?" mark when I try to hit the space button.
7. Very easy to add contacts
8. Limited Corporate Exchange Support ? Will only sync 100 messages at a time.
9. Nice voice dialing by Voice Signal. This software seems to operate better than Voice Command by Microsoft.
10. You can sync more than one Exchange account to your phone. I do not know of any device that allows you to do this. I am NOT talking about IMAP or POP3 accounts. . . actual exchange profiles.
11. Actual standard stereo headphone jack. Not the mini-usb that HTC uses.
12. Supports TeleNav with built in GPS receiver.
The cons:
1. OWA/OMA Microsoft Exchange integration is decent at best. Contacts from your exchange mailbox are not downloaded to the phone locally. They can be searched though.
2. Calendar is not synced to the device. Also the calendar has VERY MINIMAL storage space for each record. The calendar is limited to a "Title" field which only holds 32 characters. The calendar does NOT have a "Body" section.
3. Bluetooth stereo headsets work great when listening to music stored locally, but I was unable to get my stereo headset to work when listening to the streaming radio and video. I may not have figured out how to set this up, but it would be hard to believe that lack of usage was intentional.
* FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN CORPORATE EMAIL SYNCHRONIZATION:
Check with your IT department to make sure that they support Microsoft Synchronization with THIS device. I work at a company that offers OMA/OWA services to Microsoft Mobile platforms. While I can sync email with my personal Exchange Server and my brothers Exchange Server, I can't sync with my companies Exchange server. I can sync my companies email with a standard Windows device, but not with the Instinct.
My overall thoughts:
This is a very fun phone that has many bells and whistles. For me, it is not practical for the corporate users because calendar/appointments can't be synced from the exchange server and it has no "body" object and the subject or title is limited to less than 35 characters.
But I believe that this phone would be perfect for normal everyday user to the "Road Warrior"
About Me:
I currently have had the following PDA Phones ? Yes I have spent thousands of dollars on phones, but I work with telecom and really love phones:
Kyocera 7135 on Verizon
Treo 600 - Verizon
Audiovox XV6600 (HTC) - Verizon
HTC 8125 ? with IMATE ROM for MSFP usage with Cingular
Hermes 8525 ? Cingular
HTC TILT ? ATT
TMobile Dash
TMobile Wing
Tmobile Shadow
Sprint Mogul
Sprint Instinct
I am not corporate but would like to keep a calendar, some web, email etc but in a nice intuitive interface.
I currently have a razr and 8525, but looking for something that fits in the middle.
On the plus side; it does work and is fairly intuitive otherwise. Just worthless unless you just need a phone, with ONLY 600 contacts? really? i think I passed that mark back in 2002
WHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY??????????? cant someone make a decent product???? Oh yea I forgot it's because THERE IS NO responsibility!
Just give me my old phone back.
- by drcardenas April 13, 2009 6:37 AM PDT
- I have had my Instinct since Valentines Day. I like alot of the features, but some of them I don't. The major part I don't like is that the new Jawbone headset is not compatible with this phone. So I just spent $110 on a headset I can't use. I did let sprint know and they are supposed to be working on it. I have some problems with the internet, but I am just thinking it is where I live. Still trying it out.
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